High-frequency sole attaching



Nov. 10, 1953 G. T. HART 2,658,213

HIGH-FREQUENCY SOLE ATTACHING Filed Oct. 22. I948 3 Sheets-Sheet l .Hz'g/z Frequency OSCz'l/albr Inventor George T Ham G. T. HART HIGH-FREQUENCY SOLE ATTACHING Nov. 10, 1953 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 22, 1948 wk 5% Q & mm m Q Mk MK Nb wQ Qh ,nh vb NQ mm 1. m QQ Q RN Qw mm fnvenfor George T Hart Nov. 10, 1953 G. T. HART HIGH-FREQUENCY sous ATTACHING 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Oct. 22, 1948 Inventor George THart I I l I I 1---- .L

Patented Nov. 10, 1953 HIGH-FREQUENCY SOLE ATTACHING George T. Hart, Lynn, Mass, assignor to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Flemington, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application October 22, 1948, Serial No. 56,009

13 Claims.

This invention relates to machines for progressive high-frequency sole attaching. The herein illustrated apparatus is shown as applied to a welt shoe but it will be understood that it is applicable to shoes of the stitchdown or prewelt type, if desired, or to any other shoe in which there is a projecting flange to be attached to a sole.

The attachment of soles to shoes by means of a high-frequency electric field which is used ither to activate an attaching adhesive or to often and render adhesive the material of the ole itself is well understood. Commonly this been undertaken by means of apparatus which causes the activation of the whole sole margin at a single operation, usually of a few seconds duration. Under certain conditions, however, it becomes desirable to carry out the attaching operation progressively along the length of the shoe, because of the lesser amount of electrical power which is required and because of the possibility of reducing the amount of pressure needed to bring the coacting parts into firm contact.

Accordingly, one object of the invention is to devise an improved machine for progressively bonding a sole to a shoe and in which the two sides of the shoe may be operated upon simultaneously.

A feature of the invention resides in an arrangement involving a concave electrode roll extending transversely of the bottom of a shoe and movable lengthwise thereof. Combined with this there will usually be employed two creasentering members which constitute the other electrode for setting up an electric field and which are laterally adjustable to conform to the side curvature of the shoe as the apparatus moves progressively therealong and are tiltable to follow changes in the shape of the shoe between the forepart and shank portions. Preferably, and as illustrated, the crease-entering electrodes are supported upon slides which are resiliently urged toward the center line of the shoe and each slide is guided in a path such that the gap between the operative point upon it and the opposite point upon the bottom roll is maintained constant. Also, as illustrated, the bottom roll is mounted for heightwise movement to accommodate variations in thickness of the material of the sole.

Still another feature of the invention resides in a C-shaped electrode positioned in the toe crease of the shoe and cooperating with the bottom-roll electrode, as at the beginning or end of the operation, to attach the sole at that portion.

These and other features of the invention will best be understood from a consideration of the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. l is a plan view of the novel operating tools and their carrier;

Fig. 2 is an end view of these same tools with parts broken away and showing in section a portion of a shoe mounted on a support on the machine;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the same tools showing also a toe-crease-entering electrode and with the other electrodes in a position adjacent thereto; and

Fig. i is a side elevation in section through the trode.

From these drawings it will be seen that the machine comprises a supporting frame Ill (Fig. having at its top a transverse pivot 52 upon which there is hinged a holder I i for a rod I6 extending rearwardly of a shoe 2! This shoe with its last is mounted in an inverted position upon a spindle 22 (Fig. 2) carried by a fixed portion of the frame it and with the toe end of the shoe pointed toward the supporting spindle [2. On the rod I6 there is mounted for sliding and tilting movement a carrier 24- (Fig. l) which is forked to provide side arms 26 and which has a grooved neck 28. Cooperating with this neck is a forked lever ti! (Fig. 4) having pivoted therein blocks at which are received in the groove of the neck 23 and maintain an operative engageinent therewith regardless of the tilting movement of the carrier which may result either from the slope of the shoe bottom or from a positive movement imparted by the operator. The lever St is pivoted on a pin 34 at the bottom of the machine and is provided with a, cam roll St for engagement in the track'tt of a cam ii) rotatable with a shaft it to which power may be applied in any desired fashion and by means of which a cycle of operation of any desired character may be imparted to the carrier 24. From this description it will be seen that the machine mechanically is similar to a sole-leveling ma-- chine and one example of such a machine in which the leveling roll travels longitudinally of a shoe mounted in fixed position is found in Letters Patent of the United States No. 551,222, granted December 10, 1895 upon the application of F. W. McArdle.

The side arms 26 of the carrier 2t terminate at their rear ends in housings (Fig. 2), in-

of the machine partly toe-crease-entering elecaccepts tegral with which are lateral extensions 52 and in the top of which are recesses slidably receiving journal blocks 54 for a shaft 55 extending transversely of the shoe 2B and rotatably supporting a concave roll 60. The blocks 54 are urged toward the bottoms of the recesses by springs 62 held under compression by cap plates 64. The lengthwise curvature of the roll 60 is designed for a particular style of shoe. When a different style is to be treated, the roll may readily be removed and replaced by another of different curvature to fit the transverse bottom curvature of the shoe.

Crease-entering electrode disks Ni with beveled peripheries are rotatably supported upon curved slides l2 guided in the lateral extensions 52 by rollers on cross pins and the slides are normally urged toward the shoe by springs it each. of which is attached at one end to an extension 52 and at the other end to a slide. The curvature of the grooves receiving the slides T2 is similar to the longitudinal. curvature of the roll 56 and is such that the gap between the operative point it on a crease-entering electrode iii and the nearest adjacent point on the roll fit is maintained sub stantially constant regardless of the in-and-out movement of th disk with its slide as the disk follows the side curvature of the shoe. The illustrated shoe is provided with a welt 8E} and the disk id, therefore, enters the welt crease between the shoe upper and the exposed surface of the welt. In this type of shoe the band of adhesive is usually preapplied to the attaching surface of the welt and to the marginal surface or" a shoe sole In certain cases where the welt or the sole or both are made of a plastic dielectric material which may readily be activated or softened in a high-frequency electric field, then the adhesive may be omitted.

In order that the electrode disks it may readily follow the curvature of the welt crease they are tiltably mounted upon the slides '52. To this end depending arms l8, l which are integral with the slide support a tubular member which receives a stud upon a carrier arm 8!. The axis of the stud intersects the disk at about its point of contact with the work. A limited tilting movement of these carrier arms and hence of the disk is permitted by a pin 83, entering the stud "at, which passes through a slot in the tubular member ii. A sprin locking member 8? permits the removal of the carrier arm 8! when the member is detached from the stud. This restricted tilting movement is particularly desirable at the inside of the shank portion where the latter joins the forepart.

An arrangement for transmitting power from a high-frequency oscillator (Fig. l) to a disk lie is illustrated in detail in 2, it being understood that a conductor from the high voltage side the oscillator extending to a junction box t l l) is there joined to individual conductors iii}, iilil. The conductor 96, for example, extends to brushes fixedly mounted upon an insulating block which is attached to a metal supporting stud iilii secured to the slide l2. This stud also serves as a carrier for a rotatable hub of insulation and to which there is at tached a sharp-edged, angularly positioned conductive disk constituting the crease-entering electrode it. The brushes i952 bear against the inner periphery of this disk. The conductor Hit leads to the other electrode disk "it. The other side of the out-put of the oscillator 96 is connected by a conductor H9 (Figs. 1 and 4) to the a frame w of the machine and thus to the electrode roll 60 which travels along the bottom of the shoe.

Considerable difficulty would be experienced in providing a carrier for the crease-entering disks which would permit them to move all the way around the toe end of the shoe and accordingly it has been deemed preferable to provide a creaseentering electrode plate H2 (Figs. 1, 3 and l) having approximately the curvature of the toe end of the shoe. This plate [l2 has a stud H4 received in a socket H6 bolted to an insulating block H8 which is mounted on the frame it of the machine. A conductor 98 joins the socket lit to the oscillator by way of the junction box 94. A removable cover of insulating material is attached to the block H8. As the bottom roll electrode 60 is moved to a point above the toecrease-entering electrode plate H2 where it cooperates therewith for attaching the toe end of the sole, the crease-entering electrode disks it travel along suitably shaped grooves in the sides of the insulating block i It as indicated in Fig. 3.

In the operation of the machine the lasted shoe it placed upon the spindle 22 will be so positioned that its toe crease receives the electrode plate i It. The electrode carrier 25 may then be moved longitudinally of the shoe so that an electric field passes directly from the toe plate H2 to the bottom roll and from the electrode disks iii to the bottom roll (it to activate an attaching cement, for example, around the whole margin of the sole or as far back toward the heel-end as may be desired. The crease-entering electrode disks l8 will rotate in the welt crease and will, by reason of their mounting slides it, move in and out as required by the longitudinal contour of the sides of the shoe. As above noted the oarrier 24 may tilt slightly as well as move longitudinally and this may take place automatically as a result of the inclination of the shank portion of the sole of the shoe or it may be aided by manual control of the operators hands, grasping the side arms 26 or the journal boxes 56 at the ends of the shaft 56. There will be no danger of shock in so doing because of the fact that the roll Bil is grounded or connected to the low voltage side of the oscillator 9d. When needed, by the heightwise contour of the shoe bottom and especially between the ball and the shank, the axes of the disks may tilt by reason of the mounting of the carrier arms at and their ability to tilt about the axes of the studs l9.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

i. In a. machine for attaching soles to shoes by the application thereto of a high-frequency electric field, a shoe support, a shoe-bottom-engagin electrode roll positioned transversely to the longitudinal axis of a shoe on said support, a pair of crease-entering electrode disks, means for supporting the latter electrodes in a plane sloping downwardly and outwardly from the side of the shoe and for accommodating movement of the disks transversely of the width of the shoe and means for moving all the electrodes in unison in a direction substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the shoe thereby simultaneously to bond the opposite side margins of a sole to the shoe progressively along the length of the shoe.

2. In a machine for attaching soles to shoes by the application thereto of a high-frequency electric field, a shoe support, a carrier mounted for movement longitudinally of a shoe on the support and for tilting movement transversely of the shoe, a sole-engaging electrode roll in said carrier, a crease-entering electrode mounted on the carrier for movement to follow the side of a shoe, and means for moving said carrier to eiiect a progressive bonding of the sole, the tilting of the carrier permitting the crease-entering electrode to traverse the shank portion of the shoe.

3. In a machine for attaching soles to shoes by the application thereto of a high-frequency electric field, a shoe support, a carrier mounted for movement lengthwise of a shoe on the support, a concave, sole-engaging electrode roll'on the carrier held against the shoe bottom, slidably mounted, crease-entering electrode disks on the carrier yiel-dably urged along paths symmetrical with the face of said roll to engage opposite sides of the shoe, and means for causing movement of the carrier along the shoe to eiiect a progressive bonding of the sole to the shoe.

4. In a machine for attaching soles to shoes by the application thereto of a high-frequency electric field, a shoe support, a carrier having a sole-bottom-engaging electrode roll, means for moving said carrier lengthwise of a shoe on the support, a crease-entering electrode disk, means for supporting said electrode disk on the carrier arranged to position it in a plane sloping downwardly and outwardly from the side of the shoe,

means for insulating said disk from the carrier,

and means for connecting said disk to one side of a source of electric energy, the other side of which is adapted to be connected to the bottom roll whereby the sole may be progressively attached to the shoe during a movement of the carrier lengthwise of the shoe.

5. In a machine for attaching soles to shoes by the application thereto of a high-frequency electric field, a shoe support, a carrier mounted for movement lengthwise of a shoe on the support, a shoe-engaging electrode extending transversely of the carrier, a crease-entering electrode disk, a slide on the carrier movable along a path extending transversely of and outwardly of the shoe and heightwise thereof, and means for urging said slide toward the shoe.

6. In a machine for attaching soles to shoes by the application thereto of a high-frequency electric field, a shoe support, a carrier mounted for movement lengthwise of a shoe on the support, a shoe-engaging electrode extending transversely of the carrier, a crease-entering electrode disk, means for supporting said disk for movement laterally of the shoe support and for tilting about an axis extending transversely of the shoe support and intersecting the disk, and means for holding the disk in a shoe crease.

7. In a machine for attaching soles to shoes by the application thereto of a high-frequency electric field, a support for a shoe in inverted position, a carrier movable lengthwise of a shoe on the support, a concave roll extending transversely of the carrier for engagement with the bottom of a sole on the shoe, crease-entering disks at opposite sides of said carrier and insulated therefrom, and slides supporting said disks mounted on the carrier for movement transversely of the shoe in a path to maintain the gaps between the periphery of the concave roll and an adjacent point on each of the disks substantially constant as said disks move in and out to follow the curvature of the sides of a shoe.

8. In a machine for attaching soles to shoes by the application thereto of a high-frequency electric field, a support for an inverted shoe, a

toe-crease-entering electrode mounted on said support, a concave bottom-engaging metallic roll electrode, a carrier supporting said roll in a position extending transversely of the shoe, and means for moving said carrier to bring said roll into engagement with the toe end of the sole of a shoe substantially above said toe-creaseentering electrode.

9. In a machine for attaching soles to shoes by the application thereto of a high-frequency electric field, a support for an inverted shoe, a toecrease-entering electrode, a supplemental creaseentering electrode, means for connecting said electrodes to the same side of a source of energy, a bottom-engaging roll electrode, means for connecting it to the other side of said source of energy, and means ior supporting said bottom roll electrode and said supplemental electrode for movement, from a position Where the bottom electrode is above the toe-crease entering electrode, to successive positions along the shoe for the attachment of the margin of the sole to the shoe progressively.

10. In a machine for attaching soles to shoes by the application thereto of a high-frequency electric field, support for an inverted shoe, a fixedly mounted toecrease-entering electrode, a forked carrier mounted for movement lengthwise of a shoe on said support and to tilt laterally, the sides of said carrier being positioned at opposite sides of said toe-crease-entering electrode, a bottom-engaging electrode roll extending across the fork of said carrier, and means for moving said carrier along the shoe.

ii. In a machine for attaching soles to shoes by the application thereto of a high-frequency electric field, a support for an inverted shoe, a toecrease-entering electrode, a forked carrier for a concave shoe-bottom-engaging electrode roll, said carrier being movable longitudinally of said shoe and to tilt laterally thereof, and crease-engaging electrodes for opposite sides of the shoe yieldably mounted on said carri r to follow the opposite side creases of a shoe.

12. In a machin for attaching soles to shoes by the application thereto of a high-frequency electric field, a Shoe support, a shoe bottom electrode member comprising a concave roll, a creaseentering electrode member and a slide supporting said crease-entering electrode mounted for movement in a path substantially concentric with the longitudinal curvature of the roll.

13. In a machine for attaching soles to shoes by the application thereto or a high-frequency electric field, a shoe support, a forked carrier mounted for movement lengthwise of a shoe on the support, a crease-entering electrode on the carrier, and a shoe-bottom-engaging electrode roll mounted on the carrier and yieldable heightwise of the shoe thereon, thereby accommodating variations in the thickness of the sole.

GEORGE T. HART.

References Cited in the file Of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

